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Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Dispatches from Egypt: Peter Turnley in Cairo

The turning point in the Egyptian Revolution, Tahrir Square, Cairo, February 11th–13th

Exclusive to The Online Photographer

Words and Photographs byPeter Turnley

I've witnessed and photographed many of the most important moments of geopolitical change of the past thirty years: the fall of Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution in Prague, the overthrow of Ceausescu in Romania, the end of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, and the Tiananmen Square uprising and military crackdown in China to name the most important ones. After following daily from afar the uprising in Egypt, and being inspired by the wonderful and courageous photographs made by many of my colleagues who were already there, I decided last Wednesday to board a plane for Cairo. I was well aware of the potential dangers for journalists covering this story.

Of course I couldn’t know which way events would turn, but with the day of prayer (Friday) approaching, my instincts told me that a determining moment of this revolution might be about to take place. I was quite sure that one way or the other, the hundreds of thousands of people in Tahrir Square in Cairo and all over Egypt were taking the trajectory of history in the Middle East to a place where things would never be the same again. I felt I needed to move quickly.

The potential for a violent turn of historyMy flight from New York City transited through Paris before departing for Cairo via Beirut. On Thursday evening, in the Paris airport, I came across a small group of French correspondents I knew from covering many previous stories together around the world. As we waited to board our flight, we watched as a news bulletin reported that Hosni Mubarak, to everyone’s surprise, had made a nationally televised announcement saying he refused to step down. Suddenly all of us, many with years of experience covering war and conflict, had a sinking feeling that we were embarking on our trip just in time to witness a moment that could involve a serious clash between the determined protestors and the Egyptian military. We knew there might be an imposition by the military of martial law.

We also assumed that the conditions we were flying into, judging from working experiences encountered in previous days by many of our comrades already in Egypt, were likely to be very dicey for us. This sudden, grim turn of mood would be only one of many during the next forty-eight hours.

I knew that many of my colleagues arriving in previous days at the Cairo airport had had their cameras bodies and lenses confiscated by Egyptian authorities. During the several-hour layover in Paris, I concealed camera equipment all over my luggage—camera bodies were wrapped in bundles of underwear and lenses were stuffed in socks. If I was going to be checked for camera equipment on arrival, someone was going to have to make a determined effort to find all my gear. My sense of purpose was now singularly focused—the only thing that could justify making this trip would be to succeed in making photographs of this moment in history for others to see. I purposely had put only one old body and lens in a very visible camera bag, hoping that if my gear was to be confiscated, this would be what was taken. Just before getting off the plane in Cairo I put a small, newly acquired point-and-shoot in one of my socks under my pants leg.

I was one of the few lucky ones on my flight going through Egyptian Customs. None of my bags were checked.

I rushed through immigration and grabbed a taxi to go directly to my hotel off Tahrir Square, the central public square in downtown Cairo that had been ground zero for the massive protests. (Fittingly, "Tahrir" means "liberation.") Several of the other correspondents on my flight were less fortunate and had all of their radio satellite transmitting equipment confiscated by Egyptian authorities.

I arrived on the outskirts of Tahrir Square at 10 a.m. on Friday, February 11th. On a tip from another photographer colleague already in Cairo, I managed to pick the best, most strategically located hotel, the City View. The choice was another of the luckiest links in the chain of events of the next two days.

I had found a taxi dispatcher at the Cairo airport who spoke a little English, and I commissioned him to accompany me, to help get me and my bags through the military checkpoints to the hotel, which was inside the military perimeter around Tahrir Square.

After dropping my bags, I quickly went out into the immense crowd of Egyptian protestors and began to make photographs. These early photographs in this set are from that day, February 11th.

The historic momentAt 6 p.m., Tahrir Square became almost silent as a voice was heard over a loudspeaker. The standing vice president of Egypt, Vice President Omar Suleiman, announced from the Presidential Palace that Hosni Mubarak was no longer in power and the army council would run the country. A deafening roar exploded from the thousands of people on Tahrir Square. I photographed people hugging and crying, many appearing almost in disbelief. Many people hugged me, a stranger, and kissed my forehead.

Someone put his arm around my shoulder in the dark, and, in English, with an Arabic accent, whispered in my ear, "Yes, we can."

Many Egyptians in Tahrir Square began to shake hands and thank and congratulate members of the Egyptian armed forces.

Parents brought their children to witness the historic moment. Here, a father hoists his baby in the air in victory and celebration.

As I looked into the faces and heard the singing and chanting of the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians that had poured into Tahrir Square, I felt a sense of peace and my heart felt lit up in a way I hadn’t felt for a while. I was in the presence of a huge group of people who had decided that at whatever risk, it was time to rise up collectively and demand opportunity for a better and more just life. Their spirit, whatever the consequences of their actions would be, felt strongly contagious.

February 12th

This picture was taken on a highway overpass next to Tahrir Square in the early morning of the first day in 30 years that Hosni Mubarak was not in power.

The first Egyptian newspapers announcing the fall from power of Hosni Mubarak arrive in Cairo.

An Egyptian makes a symbolic gesture of poking out the eyes of Mubarak.

February 13th

On the second morning following the takeover of the Egyptian government by the military, a small number of determined hard-line protestors continued to try to stay in Tahrir Square as the Egyptian military and police started to clear the square of all remnants of the past 18 days of protest in an attempt to bring the life of the square back to normal. A new tension developed between this small group and the Egyptian military and police.

The police preparing to move out the remaining protestors.

Questions of the futureA mother with her baby on Tahrir Square on Sunday morning, two days after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. The tank behind her, symbolic of the power of the Egyptian military, underlines the question on many peoples’ minds regarding how much the future of this young child will be influenced by the degree to which the Egyptian military will contribute to promoting a more democratic society in Egypt.

Before I finish, I want to share a few final words that will stay with me that I heard from a woman, Hoda Elsadda, an Egyptian professor of Arabic Studies at Manchester University in England. We met as I took a bus to board a plane to leave Egypt on Sunday. I asked her what she thought of the situation. She replied, "wonderful!"

I asked her if she was worried about the military.

She replied, "Of course I am worried. We all are. But this is a moment of hope, and I haven’t felt hope for so many years. We need to take this step by step. But for now, I insist on feeling happy!"

Peter TurnleyParis, France

Postscript—February 17th:"Great way to start a day—wake up in Paris to a coffee, a croissant, and one of my photographs from Egypt as a double-page opening photo in Paris-Match fresh off the newsstand. Photograph of Peter Turnley by Marie-Therese Loistron, my good friend who serves wonderful expressos at my favorite morning café, Café La Fronde, in Le Marais, Paris."

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Without trying to get into an argument or degrade Peter's talent, I'll say I haven't been all that impressed by his photos from Brazil and Spain. These from Egypt, however, I am very impressed with. I suspect Peter's strength lies in covering political events, not national festivities. Please, Peter, stick with that!

I too am hopeful and happy for the Egyptian people, and my wish is that these events inspire citizens in other countries to say enough!. I would like Peter and his camera to be in these countries too.

Thanks for that Peter. It's an amazing event that perhaps hasn't fully sunk in over here in the U.S. Still unfolding too, with the "threat of a good example" domino effect. The hope and happiness I hear in reports is incredible.

Looks like you didn't have to pull out your new sock camera, which is good.

Thank you for the coverage, nice set of images, though I think 24mm just isn't wide enough for shots of this nature. To me it seems the framing should have been much, much wider; too tight for my taste. Also, no flash? Sorry if I'm being a spoiled sport, it's just my opinion.

Wonderful photographs. So which camera did Peter use, particularly in the night scenes: the secret point-and-shoot or the unnamed camera he intended to sacrifice to the guards? Also, in a follow up post, perhaps, would he talk about how he works: Does he stay in the Square day and night, rely on an interpreter, engage people or shoot without introductions? How much does he study about a situation in advance, or is his style to learn by being there and work without expectations?

Very impressive work, thanks for sharing Peter. The only thing that would have made this cooler was if Mike had labeled this post "Despatches from Egypt" and included a photo of himself hunched over an ancient telegraph, cigarette in hand.

Speaking of technology, I'm guessing the nighttime pictures would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the D700.

As some of these photos show up in their dead-tree published forms, could we try to keep a little track of their whereabouts? Newsweek, for sure, but other outlets as well? (Darn cool that TOP has been their first visibility!)

This is a very fine set of photos. You've made a lot of good uses of the flags that were all around, and I like the group of night photos a lot.

Your timing in getting there at the precise right moment, staying in the right hotel, and so forth shows superb skill too. Sure, "luck", too, but I can recognize the signs of somebody both encouraging, and prepared to exploit, luck when it turns up.

Must have been quite an experience!

And, best wishes to Egypt! These transitions are always dicey, even if they're badly needed.

Wonderful photographs, and I'm impressed with Peter's ability to get to the heart of the action. I'm sure we'll see further similar scenes in other neighbouring countries within the next few months.

Also, kudos to TOP for the breadth of your subject matter. On a tiny housekeeping note, however, could I ask Mike if once this post moves off the uppermost few in the post list, could you compress the images a little? I only ask as I'm on dial up and it has taken 35 minutes for the page to properly load!

Player,
Totally disagree. The crucial part of the story is not the demonstrations; it's the results of the demonstrations. Think of Tiananmen Square, where the protests went on for a similar length of time but were brutally repressed. Would that story have been adequately told by a set of pictures of peaceful demonstrators from a week before the crackdown occurred? No.

The situation in Tahrir Square reached its zenith at 6 p.m. on February 11th, when Peter's picture #18 and the images following were taken--when Mubarak stepped down and the population (many more than were protesting, BTW) poured into the streets for an all-night celebration.

That's half the amazement of this set of pictures, that Peter, having only a 3-day window in Egypt, managed, with skill, experience, intuition and luck, to hit the exact right moment to be there.

Aside from political considerations, these images have both an eye for gentle, elegant composition, but also beauty amongst the chaos. I like them ..., and many years since I was amongst the nameless rabble, but a lot of hope and empathy for Egypt, right now.

In response to a couple of the comments on Peter's photos, I have to say that sometimes I get tired of photojournalists' tireless quest for the iconic image. "It's not poignant enough !" I think I overdosed on "poignant" watching NBCs coverage of the Olympics. Sometimes, when looking at trying-to-be-iconic images, I get the feeling I'm being deprived of the opportunity to see what's really there. It's great when a photographer finds a scene that represents an event, but not so great when photographers try too hard, and we get cliches. I think Peter's photos illustrate the event beautifully.

I appreciate the behind-the-scenes insight about getting into Egypt with the photography equipment. I am curious as to the tactics/experience in getting these photographs out of Egypt in a "safe" way (not that I'll ever need that information - am just curious).

Very nice photos. I understand why folks want to dump a guy who won't give up power. I do wonder if a military take over is the proverbial frying pan into the fire kind of situation. Some general may decide he likes the power. Sometimes the devil you know, ya know?

Luka Knezevic,
not every good photojournalism must be iconic!
The photo sets to which you linked are taken not only with different styles but also in several moments of the protests and even in different places, while Peter Turnley shot exclusively in Tahrir square in the very last days of the events. Second, perhaps you naturally lean towards monochrome since one of the reportage is in black and white while the other has a very dramatic use of light that makes colours of minor importance. Black and white and drama shouldn't be the criteria to make great otherwise good photos. Third, the most important part is that the subjects are quite different. In Peter Turnley's work you can see a whole range of people who doesn't appear in the other reportages: thanks to him we can see a lot of women and families with their children and that does change our perception of the situation on the field and of the atmosphere in the square in those last decisive days (look at the interaction between army and people for example).
So, in a few words, even though it can be surprising to you, you compared apples and oranges: different great photojournalists covered the same event in different ways and different moments producing different but equally worthy and necessary results.
Personally I liked this set of photo and especially the night shots. To answer another commenter who questioned the use of a particular focal length and no flash, all these elements belong to someone's artistic vision: there are no rules like right focal length, right light and right white balance, sorry!

Hi Mike,
Thanks to you and Peter Turnley we have the opportunity to witness history unfolding. Every day is important for some reason, even if only to certain individuals. (E.g. Our birthday or the birthdays of our children.) But some dates are critical to the history of our planet. I think that February 11-13, 2011 will be known to future generations as a pivotal point in world history. Very often we go on day by day with nothing much happening and then, all of a sudden, some event happens which will change the direction of human existence. The events in Egypt, following the revolution in Tunisia, and very likely triggering similar changes in other Mid-eastern nations will profoundly affect the United States and the world. Will this bring a safer world or a more dangerous one? Time will tell, as they say.
A few dates will illustrate my point. (This list is by no means complete of course.)
6-28-1914: Archduke Ferdinand assassinated (World War I)
10-28, 29, 1929: Stock market crash (Great Depression)
9-1-1939: Invasion of Poland (World War II)
12-7-1941: Pearl Harbor attack (US enters WWII)
8-6-1945: Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima
11-22-1963: President Kennedy assassinated
The year 1968: Bobby, Martin and the Chicago convention
9-11-2001
The list could be 10 or 100 times longer.
We don’t know what the long term impact of these events will be. We can only hope and pray that our world will be a safer place and that the people of Tunisia and Egypt will enjoy freedom and stability.
Once again, thanks for making these images available.
M.G. Van Drunen

@ Mike: "Peter, having only a 3-day window in Egypt, managed, with skill, experience, intuition and luck, to hit the exact right moment to be there."

Isn't this the meaning of the advice, "f/8 and be there"?

My favourites are No. 30, where an exuberant lady stands on front of a tank covered in children, and No. 4, where a poster of Mubarak has been altered to make him resemble a certain Austrian dictator. Made me chuckle.

Where still photographs triumph over video is where we can study the faces and body language of the participants in the event. We can study each still picture for as long as a video report lasts, and get so much more understanding of what it is like to be these people, at that event.

@Luka Knezevic
The Majoli pictures are great also. But after a short while I noticed that much of the dramatic feeling in the night photos was created not by the light of Egypt, but by the light of the photographer. And although Majoli manages his flashlight superbly, once I've noticed it's being used, it puts me off a little. IMHO the photographer should be as absent as a visible factor from his/her subject as possible - and that includes flashlight. To me, a special quality of the Turnley pictures is that he manages to do without.

Honestly, I'm glad the situation in Egypt has been covered as well as it has...but for me it reached the point of saturation pretty quickly. I consider myself a better than average-informed American and was very interested in the story early on,...but I also follow photography all over the web and so was freakin' *bombarded* by photographs from the events pretty quickly...and they all started to look very much the same, save for technical quality (some people are clearly still using original 1Ds at night =) ...so I stopped looking at pictures and just tuned in here and there to NPR, which is pretty same-y also.
At any rate, I wasn't going to bother with this particular post, but somehow right here on TOP, I've found some of the actual best photography from Tahrir Square...good p/j, some nice 'human' moments, and actual techical ability. Who knew?
PS...as much as I love photography and radio...this story was best covered in video...the situation was just too far removed (imo) to fully understand with 9 kabillion still photos of exotic women waving tastefully out of focus flags and the same exact news report over and over. One well-edited hour of video would have brought it home nicely.

I just hope this revolution doesn't lead to the increasing Islamification of Egypt. There is some evidence to suggest a strong Muslim influence was a driving force behind the demonstrations. A poll conducted in Egypt last year found the following which doesn't bode well for the country's future or human rights in general:

Fifty nine percent said they backed Islamists and only 27% said they backed modernisers. Half of Egyptians supported Hamas. Thirty percent supported Hizbullah and 20% supported al Qaida. Ninety-five percent would welcome Islamic influence over their politics. Eighty-two percent of
Egyptians supported executing adulterers by stoning and 77% supported
whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. Eighty-four percent supported executing any Muslim
who changes his religion.

I really like these pictures, and am very happy to see them here, gathered in such form. It is rare that in print media we see more than a few images, and rarely this many at a time.

Photographs can work in many different ways, and Peter's tell a story. As said before, not every picture needs to be an 'iconic' shot, whatever that means, and if very shot tried to be 'iconic' I feel we tire more quickly. These photos, assembled as they are, give an excellent feeling of being in the midst of Tahrir Square, without being more dramatic themselves than the events at hand; one of their strengths is that they do not draw an excess of attention to themselves as photographs, which I think is a great asset of Mr. Turnley's journalism.

Without a doubt my favorite is the shot of the memorial photographs being photographed by people's cell phone cameras. Why, because I live in Tucson, Az. right across the street from UMC where I watched the memorial to the people recently shot here develop. The power of something like that is not really describable in words, you either need to be there or see a great photo of it like this one or the one you may have taken on your phone while being there. It is interesting following Peter on FaceBook and TOP, I felt just a bit more connected to the events in Egypt than I otherwise might have. As I said many time on FB, thanks for being there for us Peter!

One problem is that I usually prefer to read Online Photographer on my iPad. With the number of photos in this post the images on my iPad gave out long before the end of the article (same thing happens with The Big Picture site that Rob Galbraith frequently points to). Perhaps the next iPad with double the RAM (512- up from 256MB) may accommodate The Big Picture and postings like this but it would be great for those who may not be upgrading for iPad 2 if mega-picture posts could be split into more than one page.